scholarly journals Nigral Iron Elevation Is an Invariable Feature of Parkinson’s Disease and Is a Sufficient Cause of Neurodegeneration

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott Ayton ◽  
Peng Lei

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by motor deficits accompanying degeneration of substantia nigra pars compactor (SNc) neurons. Although familial forms of the disease exist, the cause of sporadic PD is unknown. Symptomatic treatments are available for PD, but there are no disease modifying therapies. While the neurodegenerative processes in PD may be multifactorial, this paper will review the evidence that prooxidant iron elevation in the SNc is an invariable feature of sporadic and familial PD forms, participates in the disease mechanism, and presents as a tractable target for a disease modifying therapy.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (520) ◽  
pp. eaba1659 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valina L. Dawson ◽  
Ted M. Dawson

To date, there is no disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s disease; however, promising new agents have advanced into clinical trials.


Biomedicines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (7) ◽  
pp. 197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa M. Barnhill ◽  
Hiromi Murata ◽  
Jeff M. Bronstein

Parkinson’s disease is a common neurodegenerative disorder leading to severe disability. The clinical features reflect progressive neuronal loss, especially involving the dopaminergic system. The causes of Parkinson’s disease are slowly being uncovered and include both genetic and environmental insults. Zebrafish have been a valuable tool in modeling various aspects of human disease. Here, we review studies utilizing zebrafish to investigate both genetic and toxin causes of Parkinson’s disease. They have provided important insights into disease mechanisms and will be of great value in the search for disease-modifying therapies.


F1000Research ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maxime W.C. Rousseaux ◽  
Joshua M. Shulman ◽  
Joseph Jankovic

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease, affecting over 10 million individuals worldwide. While numerous effective symptomatic treatments are currently available, no curative or disease-modifying therapies exist. An integrated, comprehensive understanding of PD pathogenic mechanisms will likely address this unmet clinical need. Here, we highlight recent progress in PD research with an emphasis on promising translational findings, including (i) advances in our understanding of disease susceptibility, (ii) improved knowledge of cellular dysfunction, and (iii) insights into mechanisms of spread and propagation of PD pathology. We emphasize connections between these previously disparate strands of PD research and the development of an emerging systems-level understanding that will enable the next generation of PD therapeutics.


2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Zijuan Zhang ◽  
Li Hao ◽  
Ming Shi ◽  
Ziyang Yu ◽  
Simai Shao ◽  
...  

Background: Glucagon-like peptide 2 (GLP-2) is a peptide hormone derived from the proglucagon gene expressed in the intestines, pancreas and brain. Some previous studies showed that GLP-2 improved aging and Alzheimer’s disease related memory impairments. Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, and to date, there is no particular medicine reversed PD symptoms effectively. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate neuroprotective effects of a GLP-2 analogue in the 1-Methyl-4-phenyl-1, 2, 3, 6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) PD mouse model. Methods: In the present study, the protease resistant Gly(2)-GLP-2 (50 nmol/kg ip.) analogue has been tested for 14 days by behavioral assessment, transmission electron microscope, immunofluorescence histochemistry, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay and western blot in an acute PD mouse model induced by MPTP. For comparison, the incretin receptor dual agonist DA5-CH was tested in a separate group. Results: The GLP-2 analogue treatment improved the locomotor and exploratory activity of mice, and improved bradykinesia and movement imbalance of mice. Gly(2)-GLP-2 treatment also protected dopaminergic neurons and restored tyrosine hydroxylase expression levels in the substantia nigra. Gly(2)-GLP-2 furthermore reduced the inflammation response as seen in lower microglia activation, and decreased NLRP3 and interleukin-1β pro-inflammatory cytokine expression levels. In addition, the GLP-2 analogue improved MPTP-induced mitochondrial dysfunction in the substantia nigra. The protective effects were comparable to those of the dual agonist DA5-CH. Conclusion: The present results demonstrate that Gly(2)-GLP-2 can attenuate NLRP3 inflammasome-mediated inflammation and mitochondrial damage in the substantia nigra induced by MPTP, and Gly(2)-GLP-2 shows neuroprotective effects in this PD animal model.


2021 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-108
Author(s):  
Gabriel E. Vázquez-Vélez ◽  
Huda Y. Zoghbi

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder characterized by degeneration of the substantia nigra pars compacta and by accumulation of α-synuclein in Lewy bodies. PD is caused by a combination of environmental factors and genetic variants. These variants range from highly penetrant Mendelian alleles to alleles that only modestly increase disease risk. Here, we review what is known about the genetics of PD. We also describe how PD genetics have solidified the role of endosomal, lysosomal, and mitochondrial dysfunction in PD pathophysiology. Finally, we highlight how all three pathways are affected by α-synuclein and how this knowledge may be harnessed for the development of disease-modifying therapeutics.


Author(s):  
Vaibhav Walia ◽  
Ashish Gakkhar ◽  
Munish Garg

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder in which a progressive loss of the dopaminergic neurons occurs. The loss of the neurons is most prominent in the substantia nigra region of the brain. The prevalence of PD is much greater among the older patients suggesting the risk of PD increases with the increase of age. The exact cause of the neurodegeneration in PD is not known. In this chapter, the authors introduce PD, demonstrate its history, pathogenesis, neurobiology, sign and symptoms, diagnosis, and pharmacotherapy.


2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 975-976 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paolo Calabresi ◽  
Massimiliano Di Filippo

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro D. Maia ◽  
Sneha Pandya ◽  
Justin Torok ◽  
Ajay Gupta ◽  
Yashar Zeighami ◽  
...  

AbstractParkinson’s Disease (PD) is a the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease and is characterized by cell death in the amygdala and in substructures of the basal ganglia such as the substantia nigra. Since neuronal loss in PD leads to measurable atrophy patterns in the brain, there is clinical value in understanding where exactly the pathology emerges in each patient and how incipient atrophy relates to the future spread of disease. A recent seed-inference algorithm combining an established network-diffusion model with an L1-penalized optimization routine led to new insights regarding the non-stereotypical origins of Alzheimer’s pathologies across individual subjects. Here, we leverage the same technique to PD patients, demonstrating that the high variability in their atrophy patterns also translates into heterogeneous seed locations. Our individualized seeds are significantly more predictive of future atrophy than a single seed placed at the substantia nigra or the amygdala. We also found a clear distinction in seeding patterns between two PD subgroups – one characterized by predominant involvement of brainstem and ventral nuclei, and the other by more widespread frontal and striatal cortices. This might be indicative of two distinct etiological mechanisms operative in PD. Ultimately, our methods demonstrate that the early stages of the disease may exhibit incipient atrophy patterns that are more complex and variable than generally appreciated.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-65
Author(s):  
Falaq Naz ◽  
Yasir Hasan Siddique

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a complex neurodegenerative disorder that mainly results due to the loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra of the midbrain. It is well known that dopamine is synthesized in substantia nigra and is transported to the striatum via nigrostriatal tract. Besides the sporadic forms of PD, there are also familial cases of PD and number of genes (both autosomal dominant as well as recessive) are responsible for PD. There is no permanent cure for PD and to date, L-dopa therapy is considered to be the best option besides having dopamine agonists. In the present review, we have described the genes responsible for PD, the role of dopamine, and treatment strategies adopted for controlling the progression of PD in humans.


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